Mind of a Tiger
by MobileTracker
Summary: Set in the modern era. Tigress is ordered by Shifu to see therapist Dr. Naomi Lian when her anger starts to get out of control. Tigress goes but decides to give her a hard time. But Naomi isn't an average therapist and Tigress is about to meet her match.
1. Session Number 1

Tigress let out a low growl as she pulled her speed bike to a stop outside the large glass building. This whole thing was stupid. It wasn't like she had injured Po that badly! Her tail lashed behind her angrily as she approached the entrance. Master Shifu had ordered her to see a therapist, saying that her anger as of late was starting to get more and more out of control. She rolled her eyes at the mere thought of her anger being anything other than in complete control. But she wasn't one to defy her adoptive father, so she did as she was told.

She wasn't really sure what would come of this. She didn't have any "deep seeded" issues she needed to work out. She was who she was and that was all there was to it. She approached the directory, finding the name that Shifu had given her and heading for the stairs to get to the third floor.

Shifu had ordered her to go and said that the doctor he was sending her to was an old friend of his. That didn't really help Tigress feel any more at ease about being there. She wasn't one to talk about "feelings" or her personal life.

Opening the door onto the third floor hallway, she found the door with the doctor's name on it and entered. She forced a polite smile to the receptionist when she looked up from her computer. "You must be the two-thirty." She said, pointing towards the door over her shoulder. "Doctor Lian is waiting for you."

Tigress nodded and pushed up this door, walking into a nicely furnished office. A large and comfortable looking couch was against the wall near the doorway, a chair set across from it with a coffee table in the middle. In the other corner was a glass desk with a computer and various folders. The bookcase behind it caught Tigress's eye as it was filled with books, pictures, and certificates.

She glanced back to the feline sitting behind the desk in the room, a lioness. With a warm smile she stood up from her seat behind her desk, walking around the front of it to greet Tigress. "Ah, you must be Tigress. Shifu said I should expect you. I'm glad you came, here have a seat." She said motioning to the couch near Tigress. Without much show the tiger took a seat, folding her arms over her chest and crossing one leg over the other. Then lioness sat across from her in the chair, pulling a folder and a pen into her lap. "My name is Dr. Naomi Lian, but Naomi or Lian works just fine. I'm forty-two years old, I've got a husband and two children and I've been a therapist for around ten years. What about you? What do you do for a living?"

Oh god, she was trying to do the bonding thing.

Tigress didn't answer at first and settled for staring daggers into the coffee table before her. Her tail twitching irately by her side as she bit her lip. Shifu may of ordered her to come here, but she had no intention of making things easy.

"The silent treatment, huh?" Naomi said after a moment, opening the folder in front of her and placing her glasses on her nose. "Shifu wasn't kidding when he said you'd be a difficult case. I was hoping it wouldn't come to this but... let's see..." She said, reading a few lines off the file in front of her. "You're twenty-nine years old with no children of your own. You're an accomplished and well respected Kung Fu Master. You train the local police officers in hand-to-hand combat techniques. You're a fully licensed paramedic who also spends her free time at the shelter for underprivileged and abused children." She read out loud, looking over her glasses at Tigress when she finished. "You're a walking contradiction."

Tigress flexed her claws in her lap. She was going to kill Shifu for handing over so much personal information on her. Naomi, seeing Tigress flex grinned and shook her head. "No, I didn't obtain that information from Shifu." She said, holding up a piece of paper with a screen shot printed on it. "Your friend Po has a facebook page. He really admires you."

Okay, scratch that. The panda would die instead.

"So I think the first question I have to ask is why you're a certified paramedic? You're a well respected Kung Fu Master who teaches others how to take down opponents. It would almost appear that you're in the business of hurting people more than helping them." The lioness stated.

Tigress flinched at those words. "You don't understand the first thing about Kung Fu. It isn't about hurting people. It's about respect, discipline, having control over yourself, patience, and defending yourself and others." Tigress said lowly, glaring at the lion who was... grinning? Why was she grinning? Wait... damn it, she had gotten Tigress to break her silent treatment. Tigress let out another growl. "Don't play mind games with me, Doc. I don't want to be here, I don't want to talk to you, and I certainly don't appreciate you digging into my private life."

"Then I suggest that instead of playing the role of the silent loner you starting talking with me." The doctor replied, closing the folder and putting it on the table. "I made some phone calls earlier this week when Shifu told me you would be coming. The Captain at the police department speaks very highly of you. Says that the techniques you've trained his officers in have reduced the need for deadly force and have saved not only the lives of his men but the lives of several suspects. Your supervisor at Rapid Medical Response speaks highly of you as well. He's worried he's going to lose you to a medical doctorate and a job at the hospital."

Tigress growled and rolled her eyes, how many people had this woman called?

"Spoke to your friends at the Jade House. Crane, Viper, Mantis, Monkey, and Po all look to you with high regards. I also spoke to several of your coworkers. They all say the same. But this isn't about them and what they think of you, this is about yourself. Shifu says that he's noticed a change in you lately. You seem angrier, prone to arguments with the others, he says the other night you almost broke Po's wrist when he accidentally spilled water on you. And while none of your coworkers mentioned any anger issues with you at work, I think it's only a matter of time until it starts spilling over. So tell me Tigress, why have you been so angry lately? How are you feeling tight now?"

"The truth?" Tigress asked, raising an eyebrow. "I'm feeling very angry at the moment. Here I sit with what little free time I actually have being forced to talk with a 'doctor'," she said, holding her fingers up as quotation marks when she said 'doctor', "who wasn't good enough to hack it in real medicine so she spends her days sitting in a comfortable chair asking people 'and how does that make you feel' for... what, a hundred dollars an hour?" Tigress snapped, her eyes narrowed in annoyance at the lioness.

To her credit, Naomi didn't appear phased by the outburst, she simply sat back in her chair and folded her hands in her lap. "And how does that make you feel?" She asked, smirking slightly. Tigress huffed and let out a growl.

"Alright, I'll tell you what I see thus far from just these past few minutes. You hold yourself to a high standard. You take pride in being there for everyone who needs you to be, no matter if it means you have no time for yourself. But being there for your friends isn't good enough for you. So you take a low paying job as a medic, helping people on the street and training the police in disarming tactics in an attempt to prevent more injuries. You volunteer at a children's home with your, and I'm quoting, 'little free time', but I can almost guarantee that you haven't taken a day for just yourself in a long, long time. So tell me, Tigress, what do you feel the need to repent for?"

Tigress's eyes widened for a split second before she put her emotionless mask back in place. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Yes, you do." Naomi replied coolly, "You know exactly what I'm talking about. You give of yourself as much as you possibly can until you have nothing left over from yourself and then once you've tapped yourself out you spend your nights on the road providing quality emergency medical care to people who need it and to those who couldn't afford the hospital bill if they had gone to the emergency room. You give and you give and you give. And it isn't that you're the self destructive type either, no... something happened... I'd say when you were younger. And ever since you've been trying to make up for it."

Tigress clenched her hand for just a second, but Naomi's keen eyes caught the motion. Tigress was up out of her seat in a matter of seconds, heading for the door. "We're not done." Naomi called as Tigress opened the door. "Yes, we are." Tigress replied without even stopping, heading out the door.

Naomi got up, walking for the door as Tigress left the office. She grinned slightly as she stood there.

"Teresa," She said, addressing the receptionist. "You're going to get a phone call in about an hour from Tigress. Give her my home address and set up an appointment for tomorrow at one in the afternoon."


	2. Session Number 2

A/N: Hey! I didn't forget about you guys. Had some things going on in my personal life that needed tending to and they took a lot out of me so I didn't feel like writing. I'm slowly getting back into the groove, so look for another update here, an update on Of Fire and Ice, and another one-shot fic due out soon. Thanks for bearing with me!

-MT2011

xxxxxx

Naomi grinned when she heard the sound of the motorcycle pulling up her driveway. Glancing to her husband who was sitting by the pool with her two children she stood, heading around to the front of the house to meet with Tigress. She rounded the corner just as the tiger was removing her helmet, looking up in awe at the house Naomi lived in. When her gaze landed on the grinning lioness she let out a huff. "You realize that inviting me here to see your large house, fresh cut lawn, and luxury car just ensures that I think you make too much money for doing nothing at all, right?"

"Actually," Naomi replied, taking a few steps forward. "Not a single penny of this comes from my practice. This is the end result of my parents leaving me everything they ever had. I actually don't collect any money from my patients, they all see me for free." She said, grinning at the look on Tigress's face. "It would do you well not to make assumptions." She laughed softly, turning around and motioning for Tigress to follow.

Rounding the back of the house Tigress was invited up onto the patio where she sat at the outdoor glass table, looking around her with a bewildered look on her face. Everything was nice and almost felt ultra-rich. She looked back towards Naomi when her husband, another lion, approached her with a glass of water and a orange prescription pill bottle. The lioness thanked him, opening the bottle and taking out one of the pills, placing it on her tongue before swallowing it down with a glass of water.

Tigress raised an eyebrow at this but didn't say anything.

"It's not what you think it is. I'm actually quite against medication unless there is no other way." Naomi stated, but when Tigress's eyebrow remained in the raised position Naomi sighed, tossing her the pill bottle.

"Rituximab..." She read out loud, glancing up at the lioness as her mind processed the drug name. "This is used to treat-"

"Cancer." Naomi cut her off. "Advanced chronic lymphocytic leukemia to be exact."

Admittedly Tigress hadn't seen that one coming. She blinked a few times before her mind finally caught up with what she had just been told. "But I don't understand, this drug usually only comes in an injection form."

"Clinical trials of the pill version. Me and my husband opted for it instead of me going to the hospital for treatments. It's easier on the kids... they don't know I have it." She said, glancing over her shoulder at the two teenaged lions playing in the pool. After a moment she returned her attention to Tigress. "I bring you here and I tell you this because I know honesty is important to you and the basis of building a trust relationship. Only seven people on the face of this planet know that I'm sick, yourself included." She said, leaning back in her seat with a smile, looking up at the warm blue sky.

Tigress didn't know what to say. She hadn't even known this woman for more than a full day and she was already telling Tigress her darkest secrets.

"The doctors give me about a month." Naomi said, breaking Tigress's train of thought. "But I feel myself getting weaker by the day."

"It must be... difficult." Tigress replied, cringing at how cold and distant that sentence felt, but the truth was that years of being a paramedic had made her that way. She couldn't afford to feel bad for every patient that crossed her path. Medics who did that never lasted long. Naomi only shook her head with a laugh. "At first it was. But you know what? I have lived a good life with a loving husband, two wonderful children, and more true friends then I ever thought possible. I have, as Shifu likes to say, achieved inner peace. But enough about me, we're here to talk about you." She said, grinning as she crossed one leg over the other, her husband appearing with two glasses of lemonade.

"Isn't he wonderful?" Naomi laughed, accepting one of the glasses as the other was handed to Tigress. Tigress offered her thanks, taking a sip from the glass as she sighed heavily. "So how did you know I would be calling back?"

"You're honor bound. You have too much respect for Shifu to disobey him, and since you meeting with me is important to him it was only a matter of time until you called back." She said simply. "I figured maybe my home would be a more personal place for you and less formal than my office. I want you to feel more like a guest and a friend then just a number on my patient list." Naomi said, taking a drink from the glass. "And while I don't think you're ready to admit any of your secrets to me just yet, I'd like to think we can start somewhere. So lets talk about the people closest to you, okay? For starters, your friend Po seems to really like you. He reads as someone who not only holds the highest respect for you as a fellow Master and friend, but as someone he almost considers family."

"You got all of that off his facebook page?" Tigress asked, a bewildered look on her face. Naomi nodded with a chuckle. "So? Tell me about him." She pushed.

"What is there to tell? Po is a good guy, always has a smile on his face, always wants to help. There isn't anything that can really stop his "silver lining" personality. No matter how bad things are or how bad they have the ability to become he always has a smile on his face and takes it with stride. Even though he has only been around the house for the shortest time out of all my friends he... he just feels like the one who's gotten closest to the actual me..."

"I'd like to talk about an incident that took place a while back. Po was hit by a hit and run drunk driver and was in a coma for three days? The others said you didn't leave his side, didn't get any sleep until he woke up."

Naomi watched as Tigress's eyes went to the ground as she gripped her glass tightly in her hand. This wasn't a subject Tigress liked to discus or even think about.

"Well... it was nine months ago. The others had gone out to celebrate the new year and I had been stuck at work that night. It was about two in the morning when the call came in. I was the closest at the time so I was the first to respond." Tigress said, taking a slow breath as she relaxed her grip on the drinking glass. Naomi didn't press her, the lioness sat in her chair and listened quietly.

"I was first on scene and I saw his car... I remember almost crashing my truck into a parked car because my hands were shaking so bad when I saw it. That car was a complete loss and in all my years as a medic, all the MVA calls I've been on that didn't even look nearly as bad as his car did yet were fatalities anyway... I feared the worst." The tiger said, forcing herself to take a deep breath as the scene played out in her mind. Tried as she might, she couldn't stop that emotional barrier from springing up to protect her, causing her to drop back into medical lingo as if she was talking about some no-name car accident victim than her best friend.

"I remember jumping out of my truck and ignoring every single safety protocol that I had ever been trained in. I just ran up to his car screaming his name." Tigress said with a bitter laugh. "I was so beside myself that I hadn't even thought to grab my gear. I just ran. The car was just crunched into this ball of twisted metal... I thought for sure he was DRT."

"DRT?" Naomi asked, tilting her head to the side.

"Dead Right There." Tigress answered, still refusing to look up from the ground.

"Can I ask you something, Tigress?" Naomi asked, waiting for the feline to nod before continuing. "I noticed that when you started talking about the accident, you stopped using Po's name and dropped into using paramedic jargon to describe the scene. Why is that?" She asked. Tigress again looked to the ground and didn't answer. "I think you do it because you really care about Po. More than you let on. Your way of handling this difficult topic is to distance yourself from it and make it seem like, to you, that it was just another patient that you couldn't allow yourself to feel for. You really thought you lost him that day, didn't you?"

Tigress nodded quietly before she spoke again. "I remember the other EMTs arriving on scene around the same time as the Rescue truck. They had to use the jaws of life to get Po out of the car. His vitals were week, his BP... erm... Po's blood pressure was bottoming out, he had multiple compound fractures. I rode with them in the back of the ambulance to the hospital and helped them work on his injuries. Twice we had to pull over and use the defibrillator on him to bring him back from the brink. Every time we did that my own heart stopped. I could just see him slipping away."

Tigress took a shuddering breath, trying to steady her hands. "We got him to the hospital and straight into the operating room. I remember refusing to leave the observation deck and one of my coworkers had to call the others since I wouldn't leave. The OR doc was able to fix the worst of the injuries that time wouldn't heal and Po spent three days in the recovery room in a medicine induced coma while he healed. Those were the longest three days of my life."

Naomi nodded as she listened intently, studying the words that Tigress chose and how her posture changed when she got to the part where Po would recover. "You love him." Naomi stated bluntly, grinning slightly at the surprised look on Tigress's face.

"What are you- I don't-" she stammered, settling on growling instead.

"Oh, stop that." Naomi said with a wave of her hand. "It obvious you have very strong, very real, very true feelings for him. What I can't figure out is why you don't act on them? It's pretty obvious he cares just as much about you..." Naomi said, trailing off in her thoughts. She made a notation on the notepad in front of her, causing Tigress's eyes to narrow in annoyance. She hated being left in the dark.

Naomi set her pen down after a moment, smiling at Tigress's glare.

"Alright. Lets talk more about Po. Reading through his online profiles on various social networking sites it would appear that your resident panda has quite the crush on you. How does that make you feel?"

Tigress's eyes went wide for a brief second before she controlled herself. Looking off to the side again, avoiding the lioness's cheeky grin. "I don't know what you're talking about." Tigress replied, fighting back the blush the threatened her cheeks.

"Oh, you do. You just don't want to admit it to you. But here's what I see. Po has a crush on you, and not one of those 'teenage boy has a crush on his favorite kung fu master idol' crushes either. He cares about you deeply and wants to make you happy. In a few of his facebook posts he talks about how he wish he could figure out why you seem so angry so that he could help you to feel better. He sees you hurting, Tigress and wants to help you. I see that and then I see you. You obviously care about him more than you want anyone to know and yet you shy away at the chance to show him or anyone else that. Why?"

Tigress laughed bitterly, glaring towards the lioness as she spoke. "You got all that from a bunch of his facebook pages and my story about the time he was in an accident?"

"No. Tigress our bodies communicate in ways other than simple verbal communication. What I do is I ask you a question or ask you to tell me a story. I don't just listen to the story, I listen to how you tell it. What words you choose, the inflections of your voice, the way you sit or shift, where your eyes go as you speak. These are all signs. There are also things called gesture emblems. These can range from when you almost broke that glass with your grip to the way your right ear flickers every time you're embarased. You don't realize you do these things and you have no conscious control over them. They just happen, as natural as breathing."

Tigress's eyes widened as Naomi spoke and read off the things she had picked up on while talking to her in such a short time. She cringed slightly, looking off towards the ground again.

"So I'll ask you again, why do you shy away from the affection he wants to show you and the feelings you have for him?"

"Because I don't deserve it." Tigress answered, knowing it was useless to lie.

"What makes you believe that?" Naomi asked quietly, giving Tigress time to answer.

"Because I'm a monster."


End file.
